Keep Guns Away from Children
Studies show many parents store firearms in an unsafe manner
Keeping a gun in the house is not a
decision to make lightly, particularly
if you live with children. Guns
account for one in every 10 deaths of
American children ages 5 to 14. That makes
firearms the third-highest cause of death for
those children, behind cancer and motor
vehicle accidents. Besides accidents and
homicides, children and teens with access
to firearms are at a greater risk for suicide.
The best way to stop firearms from hurting children is to keep guns out of the home and community — a position backed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. If you do choose to keep a gun in the home, safe storage is critical. But studies show that most parents do not store their guns safely.
According to a 2007 survey of pediatric office visitors in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, only one-third of parents who owned guns stored them safely. Another study estimated that nearly 2 million American children live in a home with a loaded, unlocked gun.
Project ChildSafe, a national program supported by the Department of Justice, said safe gun storage includes these steps:
- Guns should always be stored unloaded.
- Unloaded guns should be locked in a cabinet, safe, gun vault or storage case.
- Locked gun containers should be somewhere children can’t get to them.
- Ammunition should be stored in a locked container and kept separate from guns.
- A lock on the gun offers an additional safety measure but is no substitute for a locked container.
When guns are removed from storage,
Project ChildSafe added, you should:
- Always keep the gun pointed away from other people, even when it is unloaded
- Always keep your finger off the trigger, even when you handle an unloaded gun n Never assume the gun is unloaded
- Make sure you know how to safely operate the gun, including how to remove ammunition